Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to the field of imaging devices for medical diagnostics and particularly relates to the imaging devices used for detecting a breast cancer. The embodiments herein more particularly relate to an imaging device with simultaneous digital X-Ray and infrared image acquisition and processing systems in conjunction with a positioning apparatus thereby providing an enhanced solution for imaging a breast.
Description of the Related Art
The breast cancer is the commonest form of cancer in the women in worldwide. It is one of the leading causes of death in most of the countries. Especially in India, it is evident from the various statistics that the breast cancer accounts for about 25% to 33% of all cancers in the women. However, if breast cancer is detected at an early stage, then an average survival rate can be exceeded by five years or more.
A Breast cancer screening refers to a medical screening of an asymptomatic, apparently healthy woman for breast cancer in an attempt to achieve an earlier diagnosis. The assumption is that early detection will improve the outcomes. A number of screening test have been employed and the screening tests include a clinical and self breast exams, a mammography, a genetic screening, an ultrasound imaging and a magnetic resonance imaging processes.
In general, there are multiple methods for early detection of breast cancer using diagnostic imaging equipments. The commonly used method is an X-Ray Mammography. In another method, an ultrasound imaging system is used. In yet another method, an MRI imaging is used and finally the most evolving method is the use of Thermography i.e., thermal imaging of a breast.
Though the X-Ray based mammography is considered as a gold standard tool available today for breast cancer, most of the women feel discomfort during the procedure. Each breast is compressed with the help of a compression paddle and this causes an acute discomfort to the patient since breast is considered two to three times more sensitive in women. Nearly 5%-15% of mammograms require a follow-up testing but a sizeable percentage of patients do not turn up for the follow-up procedures because of the discomfort caused by compression. Besides a discomfort, another drawback of the mammography is the generation of false negative and false positive results due to a compression of three dimensional breast organ images to a two dimensional film or image, thereby leading to different interpretations. The second widely used technique. Ultrasound mammography also has unique advantages but it lacks repeatability & reproducibility as the compression pressure applied by the sonologist during imaging is not tracked and hence it is difficult to reproduce the results.
Secondly it is difficult to position a suspected spot, which is identified in the initial study, in a follow-up procedure. A penetration of the ultrasound waves in a dense breast is also a matter of concern.
The other screening method used presently is a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which has shown to detect cancers not visible on mammograms. However, a breast MRI has long been regarded to have the following disadvantages. For example, although it is sensitive by more than 27-36%, it has been claimed to be less specific than mammography. As a result, the MRI studies may provide more false positives (up to 30%), which may lead to undesirable financial and psychological costs. The MRI based study requires very expensive MRI scanners and also a coil which is specific for positioning a breast. Further, an MRI may not be used for screening the patients with a pacemaker or breast reconstruction patients with a tissue expander due to the presence of metal. As a result very few procedures are performed with the MRI scanners.
The most useful and evolving method, the Thermography, commonly called as an infrared thermal imaging, uses the highly specialized infra red cameras to measure a heat coming from a surface of a breast tissue. The thermal pattern of a patient's breast is collected with a help of the infrared camera in a non contact manner. The human body dissipates the heat through a skin to maintain itself in a thermal equilibrium. The quantity of heat emitted depends on an environment and also an exposure of skin to that environment. The tissues tend to expend more energy when they multiply and they are usually accompanied by an increased blood supply due to a development of new vessels (angiogenesis). The tumor cells, in general, may have an increased blood supply and also a development of the additional vessels (angiogenesis), as well as an increased metabolic rate, which in turn translates into the increased temperature gradients compared to a surrounding normal tissue. Detecting these infrared “hotspots” and gradients can help to identify and diagnose a tissue heat pattern thereby leading to a conclusion regarding a normal or an abnormal growth of tissues in a specific area. A Breast Thermography, when done in a controlled and repeatable manner, has yielded very accurate results, but only in the hands of a trained personnel using the correct type of Thermography cameras. Today's infrared cameras are capable of sensing the changes in temperature at 0.08° C. or better and do not require any contact with a patient. But, in most of the existing Thermography procedures, the images are captured in a patient standing or sitting position with the breast(s) facing the thermal camera (frontal view). A single image or a series of images is taken and they are compared. A fundamental flaw in such an approach is that the rest of the body also dissipates heat and there is a possibility that this can alter or influence the environment regarding a heat pattern. Few Thermography techniques do capture the heat patterns of the breast in a patient lying in a prone position but do not capture all the views of the breast in a direct manner.
All of the above screening techniques provide either a physiological or anatomical view of the breast. Each year, millions of women around the world are subjected to the unnecessary breast biopsies because of inadequacies of cancer detection and inability to separate a benign from the cancerous lesions.
Hence there is strong felt a need to develop a novel and more effective screening device with high sensitivity and repeatability to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks in various screening techniques for breast cancer.
The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.